Austin Steele/CNN
President Joe Biden during the CNN presidential debate on June 27, 2024 in Atlanta.
CNN
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With President Joe Biden’s political future hanging in the balance, many in the White House, still reeling from his disastrous performance in last month’s presidential debate, are feeling anxious and uncertain about whether Biden will continue his reelection campaign.
Multiple sources inside and outside the White House told CNN the mood has been sour since Biden’s dismal performance in CNN’s presidential debate on June 27. Staffers, from junior aides to veterans, have struggled to understand Biden’s halting speech for more than 90 minutes on stage.
In the White House, where the television screens are always on and the four cable news channels — CNN, MSNBC, Fox and CNBC — there’s no escaping a shocking headline that casts doubt on Biden’s political future. The latest blow came on Sunday, when a handful of senior Democratic Party officials called Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., to tell him that Biden needed to step aside, according to people familiar with the matter.
Many administration officials have been in touch with their teams and direct reports in the chaotic days since the debate, the people said. The conversations were aimed at offering emotional support to staff and encouraging aides to just sit back and get on with the work of the Biden administration.
Group texts are buzzing among administration officials, with a rapid-fire exchange of the latest gossip and headlines about the president’s future.
One interesting topic was widely discussed over the weekend: the identity of the “senior White House official” who anonymously told The New York Times that the president should not seek reelection, and who reportedly worked with Biden on his presidency, vice presidency and 2020 campaign.
When asked about the man, a senior White House official told CNN brusquely, “That person shouldn’t be in the White House. Period.”
The official also insisted that he had not heard anything inside the building resembling a suggestion that the president should give up the election.
For now, sources say support for the presidential candidate appears to be largely intact among the senior leadership at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, even if it all seems tenuous.
“They just say, ‘He’s going to win,’ and they won’t deviate from that mindset because if they deviate, it will be very damaging,” said one Democratic official who is in close contact with the White House and campaign officials.
Biden himself has publicly remained committed to the campaign: In a letter to Democratic lawmakers on Monday, the president said he was “firmly committed to remaining in the race, fighting to the end, and defeating Donald Trump.”
In his strongly worded letter, he pointed to the democratic process that has already unfolded in the election.
“Only the voters decide who the Democratic nominee is,” he said. “How can I advocate for democracy in this country when I ignore democracy in my own party? I cannot and will not do that.”
Biden’s chief of staff, Jeff Zients, held an all-staff call last week to urge his team to stop the chatter and get to work.
“Keep your head down and get things done, do, do, do. And keep your head up. There’s a lot to be proud of and under this president’s leadership, we can accomplish so much more together,” Zients said, according to the person.
Despite those efforts, tensions are rising inside the White House in what many Democrats see as a critical week for Biden, as he is expected to find out whether he faces an all-out rebellion by members of his own party.
One source said the word that best describes the mood this week was simply “anxious.”
This story has been updated with additional information.
